A boy coming of age in a part of the country that's being left behind is at the heart of this
dazzling novel-the first by an award-winning author of short stories that evoke the American
West. LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • August reads like early
Hemingway retooled for the present.-William Finnegan Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
Barbarian Days Callan Wink has been compared to masters like Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane.
His short stories have been published in The New Yorker and have won numerous accolades. Now
his enormous talents are showcased in a debut novel that follows a boy growing up in the middle
of the country through those difficult years between childhood and adulthood. August is an
average twelve-year-old. He likes dogs and fishing and doesn't mind early-morning chores on his
family's Michigan dairy farm. But following his parents' messy divorce his mother decides that
she and August need to start over in a new town. There he tries to be an average teen-playing
football and doing homework-but when his role in a shocking act of violence throws him off
course once more he flees to a ranch in rural Montana where he learns that even the smallest
communities have dark secrets. Covering August's adolescence from age twelve to nineteen this
gorgeously written novel bears witness to the joys and traumas that irrevocably shape us all.
Filled with unforgettable characters and stunning natural landscapes this book is a moving and
provocative look at growing up in the American heartland.
